I'M A SONIC BOOMER

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Casseroles Night in Canada Next One June 6th

Across Canada and worldwide join with ordinary Canadians protesting the erosion of your civil liberties. For more information go to https://www.facebook.com/OccupyCanada

We thought we should plan to do this even bigger next Wed June 6... Here's all the info from May 30, for posterity. We'll start collecting event info here for next week shortly.

The 1st ever Casseroles Night in Canada has been a huge success - congrats to everybody who took part!

The largest student strike, and the largest act of civil disobedience in the History of north America took place RIGHT HERE......COME ON PEOPLE STAND WITH YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF QUEBEC.....YOUR COUNTRY MEN AND WOMEN........OTHERS AROUND THE WORLD HAVE JOINED US.........BE LOUD BE PROUD.....STAND IN SOLIDARITY!

"The extraordinary student mobilization in Quebec has already sustained the longest and largest student strike in the history of North America, and it has already organized the single biggest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. It is now rapidly growing into one of the most powerful and inventive anti-austerity campaigns anywhere in the world"

London Guardian news source:
http://alturl.com/ssqfp

June 01st Paris, France! Solidarity!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed1DnU_tx4U&feature=youtu.be

May 30th New York! Solidarity!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPh-aKXWvnM&feature=player_embedded

May 30th Toronto! Solidarity!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXNU7-9UyLA

May 30th Vancouver! Solidarity!
http://youtu.be/nnJtqkJUYRs

May 30th Brussels Belgium ! Solidarity!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8KmMdGQjqY

May 30th London England ! Solidarity!
http://t.co/8IHwKKOY

May 30th Buenos Aires, Argentina! Solidarity!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=438203509531571&set=a.278568382161752.74506.278550055496918&type=1&theater

Leonard Cohen - Solidarity Forever !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jsQEwW4DVw

JOIN US AGAIN ON JUNE 6TH "Casseroles night in Canada" and the world! , over 60 Canadian cities including U.S cities NY and Arkansas, Internationally the UK, and Belgium participated in solidarity on May 30th! The energy was electric, Solidarity with the Quebec student protests, Its time we take democracy back everywhere! New cities being added daily. Check for updates!
http://www.facebook.com/events/306990322722976/

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Musings on why people don't plan for retirement

The following three days of posts are from Lessons from Behavioral Finance for Retirement Plan Design by Olivia Mitchell and Stephen Utkus

There is a movement worldwide to the idea of the individual become more responsible for his/her own retirement funding/planning. This is being done by moving away from the traditional pension plan that defines a benefit for an employee when the employee’s retires. (This is called a defined benefit [DB] plan) toward a participant-directed defined contribution (DC) plan.

These plans are rapidly becoming the cornerstone of the private sector retirement system around the world.

Participant-managed DC plans are the main feature of national pension reforms already implemented in many Latin American nations, as well as in Germany, Sweden, Russia, Australia and most recently, Canada

Underlying this movement is an implicit assumption about behavior. The assumption is that the individual is well-informed and understands economic theory and who also acts rationally to maximize her/his self-interest. To this end, it is assumed that he/she can interpret and weigh information presented regarding options offered by employers and governments, appropriately evaluate and balance these choices, and then make an informed decision based on weighing the alternatives

There are a number of problems with this assumption.

1. There are certain types of decisions and problems that may be simply too complex for individuals to master on their own.

2. Individuals may have the right intentions or beliefs, but they may lack the willpower to carry out the appropriate changes in behavior

3. Many people do seek to maximize their personal welfare, yet they prove far more cooperative and altruistic than traditional economic theory predicts they will be.

Neoclassical economic theory states that people will examine the trade-off between current and future consumption. People who hold this theory believe people are able to compare the benefit gained from consuming their income today, with the benefits of deferring some of that income to the future. Those who believe in this theory think this is what drives contributions to individual retirement plans, with the goal of the individual being to save for retirement.

There is another theory of savings (the life-cycle theory), which states that individuals are rational planners of their consumption and saving needs over their lifetimes, taking into account the interests of their heirs. Therefore, during their younger years, workers tend to be net dissavers, borrowing now to boost their current consumption; middle-aged individuals become net savers and purchasers of financial assets and enter “accumulation” phase, during which they stockpile assets for the final, retired phase of life. On balance, the life-cycle theory is thought by business, government and economists to do a reasonable job of explaining patterns of household saving and spending behavior.

If middle age (defined by the US Census as between 35 to 54) is when individuals begin to plan for retirement at 65 what happens when we move the retirement age to 67? How long before they implement a change should the government give its people. Our government is talking about the changes affecting those who are just turning 58. Maybe they should move the timelines back so those who are just turning 35 have time to prepare properly.

The problem is that being good at retirement savings requires accurate estimates of uncertain future processes including lifetime earnings, asset returns, tax rates, family and health status, and longevity. In order to solve this problem, the human brain as a calculating machine would need to have the capacity to solve much decades-long time value of money problems, with massive uncertainties as to stochastic cash flows and their timing.

In fact, survey and empirical research suggests that individuals are not particularly good at retirement savings. Furthermore, the empirical evidence suggests that failing to save enough also has serious negative consequences

Friday, June 1, 2012

Creatures of Habit

Every morning on my way to work, I pass a young woman running with her stroller and her young son, he looks about 3 years old. I see them around the same time every morning at pretty much near the same spot. The young boy sometimes is ahead of his mom, sometimes he is running behind her, sometimes he is running and she allows him to think he is pushing the stroller with the younger brother or sister.

She is there every morning unless it is pouring rain, and she and her son look as if they are enjoying the morning run. I am on my way to work, we are both creatures of habit, I take the same route to work in the morning, she runs at the same time. I bet she is enjoying her day more than I am mine. Even as I have these thoughts, I know that I really am ready to retire this time!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Federal budget cuts

Federal budget cuts are actually twice as deep as advertised, says a new report from the Parliamentary Budget Office.

While all eyes have been on the austerity measures in the 2012 budget, the PBO finds that cuts and budget freezes from 2010 to this year double the belt-tightening that departments are dealing with.

At the same time, the battle for information between the government and the PBO has turned up a notchWhile the fight for information will continue over the coming weeks, the Parliamentary Budget Office was able to get new details for its report released Monday.

The report totally reframes the government’s spending cuts as starting in 2010. The Conservatives announced in this year’s budget they would cut $5.2 billion and 19,200 jobs over the next three years.
But while the last two budgets contained stimulus, they also had underlying long-term cuts that are now starting to be felt. The PBO reports that when the cuts are added together, the government is actually chopping twice as much — $10.8 billion from the budget and 26,800 jobs.

As an example, Fisheries and Oceans is facing $79.3 million in cuts this year. But those cuts are on top of $56.8 million already announced, as well as a multi-year budget freeze.

Top-level data on the cuts is coming in slowly but surely. The Parliamentary Budget Office asked all departments to break down funding for main programs (for Fisheries and Oceans, this would include things like funding for search and rescue and icebreaking). Most have complied but one-third of departments and agencies refused.

On the request for specifics of how departments are handling program cuts, almost no one has answered.

The Finance Department plans to meet its $5.2 billion in savings from this year’s budget with a $1.1-billion cut to small grants and contributions (excluding major transfers like equalization), $1.8 billion in lower staffing costs and $2.3 billion in other operating savings.

The PBO says that last category, which makes up 46 per cent of all of this year’s cuts, remains largely a mystery.
Sources:

http://thechronicleherald.ca/canada/101500-federal-budget-s-deep-cuts-getting-deeper

https://www.facebook.com/#!/OccupyCanada